Internship in the underdark
by OffbrandValk
Summary: [pseudo AU] One thing leads to another and suddenly Darling is the squire of the evil knight Lady Marrowgrinder... Hijinks may ensue depending on ones interpretation of the word.
1. 1 - Evil 101

_This was a spur of the moment fanfic, i got the idea in the morning, and wrote it in the evening._

 _It's also the first fanfic i'm proud enough off to put online, so i'd love to hear what you thought about it._

* * *

"Miss… Charming i'll be honest i'm not sure what we might be able to offer you. While we aim to accomodate students from all walks of life, i get the impression from your application that you have little to no genuine interest in the pursuit of evil." "Truth be told i don't, but to apply to become a hero i need a knighthood. Every place i've looked so far has turned me down because i'm a princess and i'm sorta getting desperate. I'll deal with having to do evil if it means i get an internship." "Well you're in luck Darling, i happen to have a knight in my service, who might like you enough to take you in as her squire, not that she has a choice in the matter. Though you will have to supplement a few classes at Underdark High" "Oh thank you miss the Painted Lady, you won't regret this!" "Aaargh, no hugging the headmistress! Thank you, and please just call me Yahar'Tajna."

"Hi i'm erh, i'm Nendra, i'm going to give you a tour of Underdark High. i mean, if you don't mind. I'm sure we could find someone else to do it. Please don't throw a shoe at me!" The elf with pitchblack skin, white hair, and round cheeks, had already jumped for cover before Darling could say a word. She seemed blissfully unaware that her spider half was sticking out and shaking in it's exoskeleton. "Erh, hi, i'm Darling, and i'm not gonna throw a shoe at you." Nendra stuck her head out with a hopeful grin "Really?!", Darling replied with her own friendly smile "Really".

"Here's the dark arts room, watch out, i don't think the paint brushes have been fed yet."

"This is the auditorium, it's mostly used by the monologue club."

"This isn't actually a room, it's a mimic."

"Hey Nendra, whats a Shoggoth?"

"This is the only non-haunted bathroom at the entire school" "Who's that bleeding girl in the mirror?" "Lolth damnit!"

"And here's the mad science room, remember: only you can prevent eldritch horrors from entering this reality."

"This is a room full of spiders."

"This is where we keep the- RUN!"

Kitten pens, stay out!

"This is the bookball field, the traps were a necessary addition."  
"This is an enormous churchbell. Actually, i'm not sure why we have that."

The tour ended at the entrance to a large cave on the outskirts of the school grounds. "Okay lady Marlene Marrowgrinder, the knight who might take you in,lives in there , do you think you could go in by your self, i kinda have t-" Then an expensive leather shoe struck Nendra square in the face. "Run, gotta run, hope to see you later, bye Darling" with that Nendra skittered away, as fast as her 8 legs could carry her.

Around the corner came 2 elf girls, both black skinned and white haired like Nendra, but with vicious smiles on their faces. The girl on the left spoke "where did that disgusting drider go. Hey Nendra, come on out, it's only good for you. Hey new girl, did you see where the drider went?" Darling was about to yell at the girls when another voice beat her to it. "FILTHY MAGGOTS THE LOT OF YOU! LET THE POOR GIRL REST OR GODS BELOW I WILL FEED YOU YOUR OWN ENTRAILS!" The 2 girls took one terrified look at each other then ran.

Moments later a suit of heavy, black and very spiky armor came storming out of the cave, the earth rumbling as the heavy sabatons slammed against it. After a The armor (and supposedly the person inside of it) stopped up at the top of a nearby hill, and threw a non commital fireball vaguely in the direction of the fleeing girls. The helmet was slowly removed revealing a woman with flowing, scarlet hair, and a predatory look on her face. She turned to look at Darling, revealing a scar going from her left eyebrow down to her cheek. "You're either not smart enough to run, or you're the wretch the Painted Lady want's to make my squire. Please be the first, cause i'm really in the mood to gut someone."

A bit taken aback, but not one to stammer, Darling answered in a clear, concise, and scared manner. "Sorry lady Marrowgrinder, but i'm Darling Charming, and i was hoping to become your squire." Marlene made a cry that would make a banshee jealous "You beastlings are all the same! Wouldn't know honor if it slapped you in the face! Believe me, i've tried! Why does that damned lich keep trying to get me to train some arrogant and sadistic hellspawn. Wait, what was your name again? Charming? As in prince Charming? why do you wanna become a dark knight?" "Well, actually i want to become a hero, but to do that i need work experience and long story short here i am." You could hear the gears turning in Marlenes, as she squinted at Darling.

"So… you're not evil?" "Nope" "No convoluted revenge plots" "None that i know off." "No interest in burning their friends, salting their houses, or kidnapping their fields?" "No, no and no" Darling just managed to register the "MINE!" outcry, before she was pulled into a bear hug from Lady Marlene Marrowgrinder. "All mine! congratulation Darling, you're my squire. no you don't get a say in the matter. Oh this is gonna be great, i can teach you all the virtues of dark chivalry, then you can totally betray me once you graduate, and you can go out and save the world, and we can duel over a volcano! we're gonna be the best frienemies! When can you start?"


	2. 2 - Combat Training

_Well, i wasn't planning to write more chapters._

 _But i needed to practice writing combat scenes and thinking up new settings is hard._

 _Though now I'm kinda tempted to write about Darling and Johannes date..._

* * *

"Okay, here's comes the devil wolf, good luck Darling!" There was an angry roar from down the tunnel, then the beast came charging. It was the size of a house, had a set of bloody antlers behind it's ears, and about 3 times as many teeth as it was supposed to have. It leapt for Darling, only to be cut short as Darling slammed the cross spear into it's throat. It huffed and puffed, and snapped at her, but the tangs held it at bay. Darling stood completely still, muscled deadlocked to the spear. Then the handle broke, and both Darling and the devil wolf surged forward. The devil wolf slammed into a rock, and made a low whimper, while Darling only just managed to not get smashed under one of it's enormous rear paws. "This is the part where you improvise" "Jeez, thanks Lady Marrowgrinder!" Darling drew the wicked dagger, Marlene had instructed her to carry at all times, and charged back at the devil wolf. She dodged under its fangs, and swung the saw-toothed blade against the joint of the left hind leg, sending the beast to the floor. Wasting no time, she jumped up on it's, and began using the dagger, to slowly chop through it's neck. In the beginning it struggled, and Darling had to hold on for dear life, then she got a good hit in, and the beast started to gasp for air. As it lay dead, lady Marlene came forward holding her own dagger, identical to Darlings "Not bad for a first timer, but next time, this:" Marlene slammed her dagger down in the space between the antlers, and pulled it forward a few centimeters "Kills it dead, right then and there."

The mace hit the skeleton with enough force to send it flying in 3 separate directions, moment later Darling swung around and brought her axe down upon a zombie. "Lady Marlene, how long do we need to keep doing this?" Marlene did a backflip, swinging her enormous sword in a wide arch, before landing steel clad elbow first on a skeleton. "Until i get bored, or Yash'ak'Thul runs out of corpse to throw at us, whichever comes first." Sighing, Darling relaxed her posture, she was definitely gonna have to cancel her plans for the afternoon with Nendra. "Think fast!" Darlings train of thought was stopped, as Marlene threw a moldy silver crown straight at her. Doing as she was told, she tore a leg of the nearest skeleton, and swung at the crown, which ricocheted through the room, smashing skeletons left, right and center. "Okay, that was pretty funny." "Told you so!"

One mistake is all it takes, the adage had been drilled into her head, first by the white knight, then by lady Marlene. However Darling only realized the importance of it, after she had moved her shield slightly to the side, and felt the balors burning blade stab through her chest. She fell to the ground, struggled back on her feet, but everything was going black, and she could feel the life flowing out of her. Then a voice broke through the darkness, Shanalot, the priestess, was praying, and her prayer send fire through Darlings veins. Her wounds closed, and renewed by the mother of dragons, she ran towards the balor again. In the mean time, the monster of fire and brimstone, was swinging away at Aunrae, the assassin was panting, and held down by several grazing wounds. Aunrae was holed up in a corner, the great stone sword slowly coming down upon her, and her daggers were little good for parrying a weapon of that size. She resigned herself to the fact that she was gonna meet her grandma a few hundred years to early, then in the last second, a pure silver blade, forged above ground, and bearing the crest of the Charming family, stood in it's path. Steel flashed against steel, as Darling pushed the balor back enough for Aunrae to catch her breath. Aunrae looked to Shanalot, who nodded in agreement. A brilliant bolt of darklight blinded the balor, Aunrae seized the moment, using the balors wings as counterweight, she landed on it's back. Wasting no time she withdrew her last poisoned dagger, from it's special sheathe and cut a gash the length of her arms across it's back. As the monster was reeling from the blow, Darling took her sword with both hands, and decapitated the balor with a single, sideways swing. The post-combat silence was broken, by Lady Marrowgrinders teasing voice "Well high priestess, seems you owe me 3 silver pieces" followed by a grumbled reply from Shanalots teacher.

The sun was much brighter than Darling remembered it, the spiky gauntlets chafed, and Marlene had made her wear make-up. Not to mention how out of place she felt in the cathedral of seven truths, all eviled-up, and trying her best to look menacing. On the other side of the chasm stood another squire, of roughly her own age, as well as his knight wearing about 3 times as much armor as was appropriate for such a formal occasion. Marlene leaned in close behind her "go get him wolf!", then Darling walked out on the narrow rafter. She could hear the knights booming voice all the way across the chasm "Remember Johannes, the orders honor rest on your shoulders, don't let me down!" The squire drew his rapier, and walked out on the rafter. "St-Stand down evildoer, or, or i'll be forced to vanquish you!" Darling lifted an eyebrow "You do know this is a sparing match right? Me standing down, would make my whole visit pointless." "Right" the squire muttered in embarrassment.

Darling was the first to lunge, just as the pair met in the middle of the rafter. Johannes skillfully parried the thrust, but it was quickly followed up by 1, 2, 3, additional stabs, which Johannes parried in turn. Then he counterattacked, which Darling with some difficulty turned aside. They went back and forth like that for a while, until Darling managed to cut a long crimson streak across Johannes left arm, this unfortunately gave him the opportunity to disarm her and send her rapier clanking into the chasm. "I believe I have you defeated scoundrel." Taking the opening Darling kicked him in the shin, then struck him on the side of the head with both hands while he was down, throwing him into the the great big hole. In the last second she grabbed his arm, saving him from a very painful, though not quite deadly landing. "I believe otherwise sir knight" she smirked through black lipstick, and red contacts. "LIGHT SAKE JOHANNES! STOP CRUSHING ON THE DARK SQUIRE, RIGHT THIS INSTANT!" Came the angry yell from his knight, while Marlene chuckled to herself.


	3. 3 - Home Evilnomics

_There was an AC here_

 _It's gone now, not to return_

 _This isn't a Haiku_

* * *

"I'm just saying, have you tried not being evil?" Oh fairy song, and the date was going so well. They had been sitting on a blanket, overlooking a beautiful blue lake. Johannes had brought fresh fruit, and these charming rye bread sandwiches. Darling had baked cupcakes, but her roommate Aunrae had poisoned them "as a favor". Nendra had come to her rescue with store-bought cookies, and tea in a thermo. The afternoon had gone great, they had walked around the lake for at least an hour before settling on a white cliff. They had talked about everything from dragon slaying to pop music. Then that harebrain just had to go and ruin her first date, by rambling about how maybe princesses just wasn't meant to be a hero, and it all just went downhill from there.

Darling had been dreading the next day the entire week. She had evilology with dr. Faust from 8 to 12, then after lunch she had to spend the afternoon killing rats with Marlene. However now that the day had come, Darling was enjoying it to it's fullest. Dr. Faust was a charismatic and passionate teacher, sporting a goatee almost as pointed as his horns. Though his teachings were held down by the fact that evilology was the most boring subject to have ever existed. Any other day, Darling would have been bored out of her crown, but right then and there she was just enjoying getting to simmer in peace.

She had convinced Aunrae to join her for lunch in the cafeteria, since Darling couldn't tell if a dish was supposed to be twitchy, and after a very memorable episode involving a fish casserole, she wasn't taking any chances. Just as she settled on the pasta salad, she heard Nendra call out for her. "Hey Darling, come sit with us… I mean, if you, erhm, want to." Darling was about to ask Aunrae if she wanted to join them, only to see the green-haired girl disappear out a window. She didn't take offence, running off at the drop of a slipper was just Aunrae's thing.

Nendra was standing at one end of the table, her "condition" making her unable to comfortably sit down. Wrapped around one of the benches, sat a girl Darling hadn't met before. Her lower body was a long tail similar to that of a snake, and she was wearing about 5 layers of knitwear. "Darling, this is Hekate, my, erhm, my other friend." Nendra was staring at the floor, while Darling and Hekate smiled shyly at each other. She tried to break the ice. "Wow, you sure do love knitted stuff, did you make it yourself?" She couldn't help but notice the fangs and clefted tongue, when Hekate spoke. "It'sss actually more from necss-sessity, sincsse i'm cold blooded, and have thissss." She stopped momentarily to rattle her tail. "Getting clothes that fit and are warm, issss next to imposssssible."

They only managed to enjoy their lunch for a few minutes before a well-worn sneaker sailed across the table and knocked Nendras plate to the floor. Seconds later the other sneaker hit her in the stomach. "Hey what the hex?!" Darling was aggressively ignored, by the 3 girls who threw the shoes. She recognized the one wearing a long black dress and golden jewelry, her name was Shanalot. Darling remembered her as being arrogant, but with her heart in the right place, when it came down to the last page. The girl in the middle spoke, she was wearing a skirt in a dark tartan pattern, a formfitting black t-shirt, and a tiara that reminded Darling of Apple. "Hello Nendra, sure has been a long time since you've graced us with your presence. Why the change of heart? Got tired of playing hide and seek in the bathrooms?" Darling was pushed to the side, by a girl who had short crimson mohawk, and was wearing approximately two-thirds of a bear. The 3 girls encircled Nendra, the one in the middle wearing the tiara, was cackling to herself as she raised her hand towards Nendra. Hekate was trying her best to slip quietly away, which the girls seemed to be okay with. Darling didn't have time to weigh her options, she stood up, and put on her most heroic voice. "Leave. Now. You're causing my friend sorrow, and I won't stand for it."

Darling wasn't normally the type to lose her temper, but thing had quickly escalated when she put herself between Nendra and the 3 bullies. Suddenly most of the cafeteria was chanting "Fight! Fight! Fight!", and a line of students had formed an impromptu arena. Darling vision was slightly blurred by a red haze as she and the girl with the mohawk circled around each other. They lunged at each other simultaneously. Darling registered her fist hitting the girls face, just as she grabbed Darling and flung her several meters. Darling hurried to her feet, only to get showed down again, as the other girl rushed her with full force. Falling under the larger girl, Darling grabbed out for her leg, forcing her to the ground. The girl landed flat on her face, then rolled unto her back, only to be met with Darlings elbow.

Darling climbed on top of the other girl, holding her arms in place with her knees. "You ready to yield?" The girl let out a feral snarl, and threw Darling off her chest. The 2 girls ran into each other, punching and kicking everywhere. Darling was operating on instincts more than senses, she could taste blood in her mouth, and hear her heart beating like a drum, but other than that she was numb. It had become a battle of endurance, no thoughts only violence. Darling registered her opponent loosing her footing, and pushed the opportunity. In one fell swoop she ended the fight, slamming the girl into the floor once more. Only as the haze cleared, did she realize she was holding her dagger against her opponents throat, luckily she had retained enough control not to draw blood. Panting under her breath a single question hung in the air. "Yield?" The girl with the mohawk, and a knife to her throat, nodded while trying her hardest not to betray any emotions.


	4. 4 - Deathtraps and Monologues

_Welp, guess this has officially become a thing.  
I'm not promising regular updates, they'll come whenever inspiration strikes._

 _Though i hope to have the end of this arc up within the next few days._

* * *

"Ms. Charming, do you understand why I am angry with you?" Underdark High's headmistress, was probably the scariest thing Darling had ever seen. Though her face was covered by a carved ivory mask, the fire that burned in her eye sockets could be clearly seen, and her fashionable dress somehow only made her brass inlaid bones more visible.

Darling looked at the floor, it was no use denying it, she had messed up big time. "You're angry with me because I attacked another student, and then pulled a knife on her." Headmistress Yahar'Tajna the Painted Lady, leaned forward in her excessively spiky throne, folding her fleshless fingers as she did so. "Had it only been that, I would have let you off with a warning. However, I have reasons to doubt your motives were purely villainous... So tell me, why did you get in a fight with ms. Khatagin?" Darling was sure the Painted Lady was staring into her soul. "I was trying to protect Nendra from her bullies." She answered, unable to meet the headmistress's gaze.

The headmistress stood up, walking around the table, her angry voice shaking and heating the room like a volcano. "And what, pray tell, makes you think such blatant acts of heroism, would ever be acceptable!?" Darling mumbled something, she wasn't even sure what. "Let me be clear ms. Charming, the only thing keeping me from tearing up your contract, and hurtling you back to that miserably cutesy Ever After, is ms. Marrowgrinder's guarantee of your immense, untapped potential." The Painted Lady huffed and Puffed for a few more seconds, before her toned changed and became cruelly cold and detached. "You have a severe attitude problem, you prevent bullying, tell the truth, and never so much as cheat on tests. I expect you to radically change your behaviour, and fast. I don't normally give people second chances, _do not_ waste it! Now leave me, and find something destructive to spend your time on."

Darling hurried back to her room. Sitting in her bed, she didn't want to cry. All her princess training had taught her that crying, and waiting for a hero to come save her, was the right course of action, but Darling wasn't going to be a princess, she was gonna be a hero. Besides, real princesses didn't get in trouble with the school, they were perfectly charming, and on top of things. She hugged her pillow, and let her eyes sting. She wanted to call Raven, or Rosabelle, or Dexter, or anyone really. She needed to talk to someone, someone to remind her she had made the right choice to go against her destiny, and tell her it would all be worth it. She found her mirrorphone on her dressing table, determined to call someone from her old school. She looked at the time, they would still be having classes, and this wasn't really an emergency, they would be angry at her for interrupting. She put her mirrorphone down again, and began quietly sobbing.

There was a knock at the door, Darling wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to anyone from down here, they would just laugh at the delicate little princess. She was about to yell "go away" at the doo, when it opened. Marlene came in, red hair in a messy pony tail, and wearing a sweaty t-shirt, cargo pants, and army boots caked in mud.

She sat down on the bed next to Darling, and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I heard what happened, you wanna talk about it?" Darling sniffled a "no" into her pillow. Marlene frowned in response, it was a long time since she had let herself really care about someone else's feelings. "You wanna take out your aggression on some dire rats?" That wouldn't help at all, her aggression was what had gotten her here in the first place. Marlene seemed to realize this a few moments later, as she picked the conversation back up. "Guess that's not really your thing." She took a deep, dramatic breath. "I didn't wanna have to do this... But! you leave me no choice… get your jacket, we are gonna go play with some puppies."

In the few weeks Darling had spent underground, she had never met Marlene outside of training and work, though she had picked up from their small-talk, that she had some kind of pets. She wasn't entirely surprised when Marlene told her, her _"puppies"_ were to big and _"playful"_ to live inside her house, and so she instead kept them in a large cave behind her cottage. Marlenes pets were something called wargs, and looked like overgrown mixtures of bears and wolfs. the 2 adult ones where each the size of a small house, and had enormous, vicious, red eyes. The cubs where larger than most adult dogs, could swallow a chicken whole, and looked absolutely adorable when scratched behind the ears. Having fed them, and guaranteed Darling that they wouldn't hurt a fly unless told to, Marlene left her with the cute little buggers to go _"fill out some paperwork"_.

Darling identified the parent wargs as Pinwheel and Mutton, by the name tag on their spiked collars. Pinwheel was the largest, had clear golden fur, and a scar over one eye, Mutton by comparison had silver fur with white stripes along it's hind legs. All 7 cubs lacked names and collars, and had fur in a wide array of colours from pitch black, to a proud copper red.

When Marlene came back, Darling was busy trying to pet 7 puppies at once. Marlene sat down to join her, she smiled gently to Darling "Feel better now?" Darling replied with her own overjoyed smile. "A lot, thank you Marlene." Marlene picked a cub off the floor and sat it in her lap. "It's kinda sad that they're old enough to be adopted." She said partly to herself, staring off into the distance while scratching the puppy's neck. "Have you found owners for any of them yet?" Darling asked, laughing as a 150 kilo beast began licking her face. "Only one so far, and it's going to be a present. One of my friends are going on a long, and lonely journey, so she could definitely use a loyal companion."

Taking the hint, Darling pointed at one of the cubs, she was a bit smaller than her siblings, but she made up for it by being both the fluffiest and the fiercest, depending on the situation."I think that one would be a good friend, she reminds me of Ever After." Marlene called the beast to her side, and looked her over with a trained eye. "I agree, and I think my friend would like her. What should we name her?" Darling took a moment to consider, then the warg tried to do a cartwheel, and ended up standing on it's head, mewling to itself, unsure how to progress, which reminded Darling of Madeleine Hatter "How about teacup?"


	5. 5 - Scheming

_Within the next few days my bum!  
_

 _Okay, so i was planning to put this up sooner, but then i got inspired to write something else, and i apparently have as much focus as your average medium sized rodent. Anyways, now that the first arc or whatever you wanna call it, is over. It'll probably be a bit over a month before i write something for this story again, cause i kinda want to focus on my other project. I promise i haven't abandoned this story!_

* * *

"Just so we're clear. You only get to pull this stunt once. From now on, you have to stop being so damned good."

Darling held Nendra's cut-off braid in her hand. She still couldn't believe that the Painted Lady had taken it as proof that she had killed her only friend in the Underdark. She looked at her mirrorphone, she was going to be late for class if she didn't hurry. Perhaps the school would take it as a sign of ill will, if she decided to skip classes? Probably not, unfortunately. She put the braid away in her cupboard, at the same time as she found her mad science, and scheming textbooks.

Darling instinctively checked her look in the mirror, by Charming standards she was a mess. A few stray hair hung in front of her face, her shirt was slightly crumbled, and she even had a tiny bit of mud on her soles! Of course, all it took to fix it, was for her to run her fingers through her hair a couple of times, and she was the fairest in the land once more.

Mad science class passed at a snails pace. Dr. Merkwurdichliebe had promised she would show the class an unsafe and highly explosive experiment, but got derailed by a series of rant, which started with cosmetic sorcery, and ended in what could reasonably be expected to occur in a war room. After a while, most of the class got up and started talking among themselves. Darling looked around confused, had she missed some instructions? The teacher seemed to be too busy drawing a series of enormously complex interlinked diagrams, to notice the students holding an impromptu recess.

She took a moment to gather herself, there was no point in delaying. If she didn't want to get expelled she had to start trying to fit in, and to do that she had to make friends.

Shanalot was having a halfhearted talk with Zarra about the dragon games tryouts, when that new girl, whose name escaped her, came up to their table. Everything about her just radiated exchange-student, from her rose patterned heels to her cutesy dress with laces, dark gods the laces. Her accent wasn't much better, it seemed to just invite people to tie her to train tracks when she spoke. "Hey… Sorry about yesterday, I guess I erhm, acted a bit rashly." Zarra snickered, Shanalot smiled, remembering their "cultural exchange" yesterday in the cafeteria, which had ended with Tess getting a concussion, and that horrible creature Nendra disappearing in the confusion.

There was a few awkward moments of silence, as the new girl and Zarra took stock of each other. Shanalot didn't say a thing, Zarra had always been a better judge of character. "Apology accepted. That's culture shock for you. The headmistress really ought to help transfer students not accidentally fall in with the wrong crowd. No offense." Zarra smiled as she spoke, Shanalot frowned in response, it wasn't Zarra's style to be forgiving, was there some plan she hadn't let Shanalot in on?

It took all of Darling's princess training to remain courteous towards the girl with the tiara. She had made a mistake, no use denying that, though the details were up for debate, she still had to deal with the consequences. Putting on a smile that would give her brother a run for his story, she answered in a tone mimicking the other girl. "None taken, and to the headmistress credit, Nendra will definitely not be bothering anyone ever again." Shanalot raised an eyebrow as she spoke, hiding her curiosity beneath snark. "Is that so." "Seeing as I killed her, yes I would say so." Darling breathed a sigh of relief after she had broken the news, hoping she sounded convincing.

Shanalot swore she could hear Zarra's heart skip a beat, though her face never changed from content as a skulltaker after a massacre. "That was pretty cruel of you…" The girl looked a bit unsure of how to proceed, which Zarra spotted too. "That was a compliment." Both girls laughed in the same gently practiced manner. "Thanks, I wasn't sure." The new girl said, while Zarra got up and wrapped her arm around her waist. "Well Darling Charming, I think _you_ need a guide to survive down here, what class do you have next?" Darling! That was her name, wait Charming as in…

Shanalot's train of thought was broken by Dr. Merkwürdichliebe suddenly remembering she was supposed to be teaching a class. "Now with that out of the way, can anyone tell me about the -inator naming conventions?"

* * *

Princess Nendra had never been the outdoorsy type, she liked folded linens, gourmet food, ball-gowns, and gossiping. For some reason she didn't hate fleeing her home in the middle of the night. Sure it was cold, and all her legs ached, but it was liberating, and Teacup made her feel more loved than she had felt in ages.

Princess Nendra found a nice, murky hole to rest in for a bit. Teacup snuggled up next to her, and she gladly began scratching her behind the ears. She wondered about lady Marrowgrinder, she always figured she just protected Nendra as an excuse to yell at the rest of the student body. Then she had given Nendra a way out, not to mention one of her prized wargs to help keep her safe. She ran a finger across the wound on her palm, it wasn't deep, and had been expertly treated by Lady Charming, it was meant to provide enough blood to "prove" her death, nothing more. She ran her fingers through her hair, even a day later she hadn't gotten used to being short-hair, though the pixie haircut definitely fit her.

Princess Nendra hadn't slept so well in a life time! She was wrapped in a single musty blanket, legs awkwardly curled under her spider body, resting against the rough bristles of a beast that smelled of burned wax, and she felt ready to take on the world. Nendra slowly packed up, split some kraken jerky with Teacup, and then went out to look for water.

Princess Nendra eventually realized how bad she was at reading maps. She had found a spring, and refilled her water bottles, so at least she wasn't dying. But from that point onwards, she had no idea where she had gone. Her map didn't mention large brown mushrooms with green caps, nor a huge light bulb hanging from a blue cave ceiling. Obviously she had take a wrong turn somewhere.

Princess Nendra heard voices, she didn't recognize the voices, though they seemed kind. "I wonder what scared those deers away, must have been something big." She heard Teacup make a happy little bark not far from the voices. "Hey there buddy, did you scare the deers away? You don't look so scary to me, just a really big puppy aren't you?" Nendra cautiously crept closer to the voices. They belonged to 2 girls, one had orange-brown hair in a set of intricate braids, decorated with flowers, the other had pitch black hair with purple highlights, and a tiara that reminded her of Zarra. She instinctively looked down at their feet, glass heels, and spiky doc martens, neither pair looked very pleasant to have thrown at you. Teacup seemed to trust them though, and they really didn't look like the shoe throwing type.

Princess Nendra had her hiding place ruined by Teacup, just as she was trying to decide whether to introduce herself to the 2 girls. "What is it buddy?" Nendra took a deep breath, at least she had a lot of practice dodging shoes by now. "Hey, I'm erhm, I'm Nendra. And that, erhm, that's my pet erhm, warg, Teacup." Every muscled in Nendras body tensed, ready to run for cover, as soon as the girls reached for their shoes, instead they just smiled, and spoke to her in the kindest voices she had ever heard. The redhead spoke first, a genuine smile on her lips. "Hey Nendra, I'm Ashlynn." The black haired girl waved as she introduced herself. "And i'm Raven, nice to meet you."

Princess Nendra shed a tear, then sobbed, and at last began crying from happiness.


End file.
